Thanks Subman. I forgot to mention that after the aragocrete cures, hopefully I'll be able to pull all those straws out. *cross my fingers*, worse case scenario, I'll cut 'em flush and they'll be eventually covered in coraline algae anyway.

You might want to do some math, you need about 165 drinking straws to handle a 2 inch feed, likely twice that much considering the friction loss, starving a pump is going to cause nothing but grief.unless your plan is to leave the ends of the wye open as well.

Ahhhh.....you wonder why I have balloons covering all parts of the Y....it's because I took your advice and I'm just going to use eggcrate to cover the two 2" holes at the Y. The straws are just "extra" to spread it out even more. I really did take all of your advice to heart and am planning it the way you suggested. Instead, I didn't use a T, cause a Y takes up less space. You wanted me to draw water from top down, so that's what I'm doing.

Thanks for the advice.

That's why my edit is earlier than your post :)

some very crafty ideas here! Can't wait to see more. Your rate of progress is just fine =) I'm a fellow slow-builder and sympathize entirely. I'm also a dad of two now and I'm scared to set my tank up now until they're older. I do bedtime diaper changes sitting on the floor because I'm too tired to do it any other way!

I'm still intrigued by the rock you let sit for 4 years...that's insane! With the topoff and salt creep I'll bet your salinity is so low it's more like a long freshwater bath for the rocks...

Hmm, that's a slick idea Dez. Nicely done, hope it works out well... I'm sure you'll have no problems getting most of those straws out, though the ones with the 'crinkle' on them might stick pretty good.

Brett.....ha ha. It is kind of sad isn't it. I should have taken the rock out, dried it out and seeded it when the tank was set up if I knew it was going to be 4 years. The funny thing is once in a while I'd push the salt creep back in :). I still don't own a hydrometer. I just ordered a refractometer from J&L along with a bunch of bulkheads and stuff. I will be placing an oceans motions order soon because I can't seem to find one used. Man this hobby is expensive. My wife and kids are the ones getting after me now to get the tank set up, but I try to do it after the kids go to sleep cause I can't let these years go by working on a tank when I could be playing with my children. At least a lot of the things they can help with. I have very much appreciated your tank build. It is immaculate. Maybe one day we'll meet. I used to go down to Calgary lots just for reef stuff :)

I've now removed my aragocrete rock from the mold. I've also taken the straws out. It wasn't too bad. I'm gonna wait a little bit before I begin the 6 week water curing process. Here are a couple of pictures of rock. I think it'll look fairly natural once the coraline algae and stuff grow on it.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1243916555

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1243916590

I'm getting pretty excited to start plumbing. I still have to prime and paint the sump room. But I could get started on the closed loop soon after I order the oceans motions.

That Y looks very... liverock-y. Good job! :biggrin:

I put my new arago"y" in the tank to see what it looks like. After I fully water cure it, it will slip into that male adapter right beside it. I'm quite pleased as it's fairly well balanced. I will have a sandbed so the male adapter should be covered.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1244092370

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1244092620